Minakata and Coscarelli Publish on the Use of UV for Breaking Down Contaminants

Mechanistic Insight Graphic of Molecular Orbitals

Dr. Daisuke Minakata and his graduate student, Erica Coscarelli, published an open access paper, Mechanistic Insight into the Degradation of Nitrosamines via Aqueous-Phase UV Photolysis or a UV-Based Advanced Oxidation Process: Quantum Mechanical Calculations, in Molecules. This paper addresses the presence of trace organics in water, focusing on potentially carcinogenic nitrogen-organic contaminants called nitrosamines. Dr. Minakata’s group applied ultraviolet (UV) photolysis and UV-based advanced oxidation technology to degrade these contaminants into a non-toxic form of transformation compounds while studying the degradation mechanisms.

Molecules 201823(3), 539; doi:10.3390/molecules23030539

Dr. Daisuke Minakata is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Erica Coscarelli is a graduate student in Environmental Engineering.

This work, supported by the National Science Foundation, has been published in the Molecules special issue “Radical Chemistry.” Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049; CODEN: MOLEFW) is the leading international, peer-reviewed open access journal of chemistry, published monthly online by MDPI.